Santa's List: Which Dem Senators are "Naughty" and "Nice"

[Zodiak]

Well, this is the second quarterly calculation of the "liberal" index for all of our Democratic Senators according to my "rubber meets the road" system. For those not familiar with the method, I found that ADA ratings are rather arbitrary and rarely concern issues that affect the American people directly. What's more is the ADA only puts out ratings once a year based on a backroom decision as to which 20 votes to count. In the end, ADA gave Boxer a lower rating than Feinstein in "progressivity".

So I went back and recalculated all of the Senators votes on partisan issues when it only comes to bill passage and appointment confirmations. I have been postng my numbers here on DU for a short while, but this post contains the full list as well as the methodology.

I do not ask that you take my scoring system as a "be all and end all" index. It is not. I did this for myself because there is so much rhetoric on DU concerning the DLC wars without any substance. Who are the DINO's? Who should be forgiven for the occasional tresspass in the interest of big business? These numbers should at least give you a guide, or better yet, inspire you to score them on your own.

So here are the numbers, decide for yourself:

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR LIBERAL INDEX
-------------------------------------------
Harkin (Iowa) 89.2
Boxer (California) 85.7
Lautenberg (New Jersey) 85.7
Akaka (Hawaii) 78.6
Durbin (Illinois) 78.6
Kennedy (Massacheusetts) 78.6
Kerry (Massacheusetts) - DLC 78.6
Corzine (New Jersey) 71.4
Dayton (Minnesota) 71.4
Feingold (Wisconsin) 71.4
Levin (Michigan) 71.4
Mikulski (Maryland) 71.4
Reed (Rhode Island) 71.4
Sarbanes (Maryland) 71.4
Obama (Illinois) 67.9
Dodd (Connecticut) - DLC 64.3
Leahy (Vermont) 64.3
Shumer (New York) 64.3
Wyden (Oregon) 64.3
Bayh (Indiana) - DLC 64.3
Biden (Deleware) 64.3
Clinton (New York) - DLC 60.7
Dorgan (North Dakota) - DLC 57.1
Stabenow (Michigan) - DLC 57.1
Inouye (Hawaii) 57.1
Reid (Nevada) 57.1
Byrd (West Virginia) 50
Murray (Washington) 50
Rockefeller (West Virgnia) 50
Bingaman (New Mexico) 42.9
Cantwell (Washington) - DLC 42.9
Johnson (South Dakota) - DLC 42.9
Kohl (Wisconsin) - DLC 42.9
Baucus (Montana) - DLC 39.3
Conrad (North Dakota) - DLC 39.3
Feinstein (California) 39.3
Leiberman (Connecticut) - DLC 35.7
Carper (Deleware) - DLC 28.6
Lincoln (Arkansas) - DLC 21.4
Nelson (Florida) - DLC 21.4
Salazar (Colorado) - DLC 21.4
Pryor (Arkansas) - DLC 17.9
Landrieu (Louisianna) - DLC 14.3
Nelson (Nebraska) - DLC 0.0


These scores are all percentages of a total possible score of 140 (so far, in this session, there have been 14 controversial bills and confirmations). A senator gets a score of "10" for voting against Bush's agenda on an issue, a "5" for abstaining, and a "0" for voting with the Republicans.

Here are the fourteen issues:

1. Rice confirmation (inept) 2.7
2. Gonzales confirmation (torturer) 8.3
3. Class action lawsuit bill 5.91
4. Bankruptcy bill 5.7
5. Negroponte confirmation (criminal and murderer) (0.5)
6. Cheney's Energy Bill (1.6)
7. CAFTA I (7.8)
8. CAFTA II (two votes for it (votes changed), + important issue) (7.5)
9. Election Reform (object to Ohio vote, 5 pts for speaking out, 10 for voting with a conscious) (0.6)
10. Confirmation of radical RW judges (0 pts for voting for one of the three judges, 5 pts for being one of the 7 senators in the compromise, -10 pts for voting for TWO of these judges) (8.5)
11. Firearm manufacturer immunity from legal liability (6.7)
12. Cutting Medicaid (6.7)
13. More tax cuts for the rich (9.4)
14. Roberts Confirmation (5)

The number that follows the issue is an indication of how much the Democratic Senate as a whole agrees with liberal bloggers, basically. A 10 is total Democratic unity. A lower number indicates disunity.

I flagged the DLC members because it clearly shows that there are a few DLCers who are "okay", but the majority of them are the worst betrayers of the party.

Speaking of which, here are how the Republicans score. These are ALL of the defections on the Republican side, according to my system.

chafee 40/140 = 28.5%
snowe 30/140 = 21.4%
deWine 30/140 = 21.4%
voinovich 20/140 = 14.4%
sununu 20/140 = 14.4%
colins 20/140 = 14.4%
craig 20/140 = 14.4%
kyl 10/140 = 7.3%
mccain 10/140 = 7.3%
martinez 10/140 = 7.3%
gregg 10/140 = 7.3%
burr 10/140 = 7.3%
Murkowski 10/140 = 7.3%
frist 10/140 = 7.3%
hagel 10/140 = 7.3%

I did not give Repukes credit for abstaining....these are all true defections, but they serve to compare the Democratic scores.

So everyone enjoy the numbers and decide who the DINOs are, if any. At least this way we can easily define what a DINO is by setting a standard, not deciding issue-by-issue.

So Lincoln Chafee would make a better Democratic Senator than 6 of ours. Interesting.

[Zodiak]

1. shameless kick

6 hours of work...I just have to.

[Zodiak]

2. 2nd kick

And if you don't like the method, please let me know why.

throw me a friggin bone!



Maybe I should have should have said something more controversial.

[Zodiak]

3. blap n/t

[chimpymustgo]

4. Interesting research. Worth discussing. DLC busted.

At least their hardcore group. Even though Kerry is a member, he's not really one of "them" IMO.